Nothing like a Bullwinkle-inspired title, eh?

There are two gas stations in my neighborhood, a Diamond Shamrock and an ARCO AM/PM. Each owner works hard to position his station as the area's low-price option. As a general rule, the ARCO station owner keeps his gas about two cents cheaper than Diamond Shamrock. This wouldn't be remarkable except for the consistency in the pricing relationship of the two stations.

When driving home, since I'm coming from the north 90 percent of the time, I pass the ARCO first and take a quick glance at the price. I do the same a mile to the south when I pass the Diamond Shamrock. If there's a one- or two-cent difference in price, I can be certain prices will be the same tomorrow. If the DS station (so noted because I'm tired of typing Diamond Shamrock) has matched ARCO, I can be certain the price at ARCO will be lower by at least one cent and more likely two the following day.

The same happens in the inverse, but that has nothing to do with the moral of this story.

And said moral is found in the fact both owners realize they are in an open marketplace with stiff competition. Some people may keep driving until they find a different name brand, and other will fill up wherever they have to be regardless of price (after all, we are talking one or two cents per gallon - less than 40 cents per fill-up.) Nevertheless, these two owners constantly watch for changes in the market and adjust quickly to position their product as competitively as possible.

Sadly, most home owners will not do the same thing. There are reasons, of course. The gas station owners have no emotional connection to the gas they are selling, for example. They don't have memories of little Suzie pumping her first gallon of Premium into a car. Your typical home owner, meanwhile, does have such memories. (I still think back on the Cheetah-designed room I decorated for my then two- now seven-year-old daughter in our old house, not to mention the Mexican-themed kitchen my wife really, really disliked.)

One of the hardest jobs a real estate professional has is helping a seller divorce themselves emotionally from the sale of their home. Jay Thompson discussed that need this weekend, and I've written about the need for pricing reality on several occasions. The key is building trust with your client, laying out the facts of the market as clearly as possible - maybe even drive them past a couple of gas stations to hammer home the point of selling in a competitive marketplace.

Doesn't always work, of course, but it's the best we as real estate professionals can do.